Serenity Screams
by FriendlyCurse
Summary: Always on the run and never stopping long, Captain Malcolm Reynolds picks up a passenger and finds out sometimes it's not worth the extra credits to help someone.
1. Chapter 1 - Serenity

Persephone. Wash guided the ship toward the Eavesdown Docks with a grin as wide as the Captain's scowl was dark. After a few weeks of skirting the worlds at the back end of the Rim to give the Alliance a chance to forget about the elusive little ship, everyone was glad to be going back to a world where they could stock up on supplies and spend a bit of the money they had saved up. Of course Mal was his pessimistic and surly self so close to the core planets and while classified as a border world, Persephone _was_ Alliance friendly.

"We're heading back out soon as refueling is done." The Captain grunted and spun around to let their passenger know it was almost time to disembark. Wash rolled his eyes and didn't let that discourage him. He knew Zoe would convince him to give them at least a couple of hours on solid land.

Mal stalked the narrow halls to make sure their passenger would be ready to go and warned the rest of the crew as he passed by. Each time he denied requests or suggestions that they leave the next day. He muttered to himself about short memory spans and cursed planets full of cameras.

It wasn't quite as bad on Persephone as some of the other planets the Alliance decided to 'help' but while there were a lot of blind spots in the cameras they were still scattered everywhere and if they were particularly unlucky the right people would be paying attention at the right time. The smart thing to do was get Serenity a full tank of fuel and make a quick retreat back to the safety of the far reaches of the 'verse. Might not be glorious but it certainly was peaceful.

"We'll be landing shortly. Need help with those bags?" Mal asked as he leaned into their passenger's open door.

The older gentleman smiled brightly and shook his head. "I can get them, son. Thanks for going out of your way like this. It means a lot to me."

Mal nodded, turned without a word and made his way back toward Wash. He didn't take the job out of the kindness of his heart and both of them knew it. The old guy was rich and didn't think twice about offering an absurd amount of money for a rush trip here to see his great-granddaughter's birth. Everyone in the crew knew all about his family since it was all he wanted to talk about the entire trip. At least it kept Shepherd Book busy.

"You know, the good shops are more than a five minute walk from the docks." Zoe pointed out as she fell into step beside him.

"There are good shops on New Canaan, too." He paused as Zoe turned a baleful glare on him. "Well... good drinks, anyway."

"Sir…" Her tone was a low warning, the formal title almost an insult.

He clenched his teeth and kept his expression neutral. She wouldn't be pushing without good reason and if he denied them a bit of freedom and fresh air he'd have to deal with Kaylee being mopey and Inara being snippy. "Fine. Two hours. Anyone not back in time gets left behind."

She gave a nod and though her expression never changed he was pretty sure she was gloating. He went to tell Wash the 'good' news, still fuming and hoping they were luckier this time than they had been in the past. Even if they weren't spotted by the Alliance they had a few other enemies to worry about and he had a nagging sense of foreboding that grew even as the planet in front of the ship did.


	2. Chapter 2 - Book

The Shepherd smiled as Zoe moved on to spread the word. It had been a long time since his last visit and while two hours wasn't enough to locate and catch up with any of his old friends, it would be enough to replenish some of his supplies and purchase something new to read. The Docks were familiar enough he had not been concerned with the very limited time quoted before but he was sure he would be back well before Serenity took to the air. He was equally certain Zoe and Wash would be a little late returning from their own shopping. It had been quite some time since they had been to any city that sold more than necessities and cheap trinkets.

By the time the ship was settled, the passenger had disembarked and the more excited crew members had rushed off, Book was left standing beside the sour looking Captain. "Very generous of you to extend shopping time for everyone."

"Be back in two hours or it'll last long as you please." Mal said in an attempt to sound indifferent.

Book smiled to himself and sauntered off toward a used book stall he was fond of. The Captain may seem gruff but he did have a good heart and strong moral values he would deny to most folks as if it made him a worse person. It was a shame he was so determined to cling to what appeared to be atheistic views but he supposed it was something of a defense mechanism he chose to employ after the wars. People cope with pain in different ways and while religion was a great comfort to most, others were able to find strength within themselves. There was no good that could come from arguing semantics with Mal, he had learned as much very quickly, but that didn't mean they lived on opposite sides of the spectrum as most seemed to assume.

People would think what they wished as has been the way of humanity from the dawn of time. He smiled to the man running the stall and began searching for something that would make those long weeks in the Black a little less frustrating. He chose not only for himself but with some of the others in mind. The Captain and Jayne appeared the only two who never seemed to enjoy a good book and while he was fairly certain that was true of Jayne, he suspected Mal had a few novels hidden away in his room.

Half an hour later he left the stall with a heavy bag of books and made his way to the vendors selling fresh fruit, vegetables and spices. While the fresh food would be used up quickly it would be greatly enjoyed by all and a wide selection of spices would help considerably when they were down to less flavorful rations. Though his religious services were rarely looked upon favorably by the Captain, he was still able to bring comfort and cheer through non-denominational means and that meant a lot to him.

After making small talk with the merchants and taking his time with selections he headed back toward Serenity with little more than half an hour to spare. He was still trying to decide whether to put the perishables in the kitchen right away or wait until morning since the Captain would most likely be in a foul mood due to essential crew returning late when he heard a distressed boy nearby and paused.

There were a great many ships docked, some taking passengers and others merely cargo, and one of the Captains was being harassed by a young man.

"Please, please… anywhere… just far from here. I can pay! I just need to get away from this place!" He begged the snarling man. Book could hardly blame the captain for his reluctance to take on this particular passenger - he was painfully thin, pale, dark rings under his eyes spoke of considerable lack of sleep and his ragged clothing was caked in dirt. He did not seem the trustworthy sort at a glance, perhaps a substance abuser and most likely a criminal on the run.

"We don't take on passengers." The man said sharply and gave the boy a shove.

Book stepped closer to the him as he stumbled on, desperately looking at the ships. "Who is it you are running from?"

"No one with authority." He said quickly, turning those pleading eyes on Book. "You know a ship getting away from here?"

"I might but I can't guarantee anything. If you have money enough the Captain may take you on." Book admitted carefully. As long as it wasn't Alliance chasing the boy Mal might jump on the excuse to get back out to the Rim quick as possible.

"I got money." He nodded, almost smiling.

Book watched the boy out of the corner of his eye was they walked - whoever was chasing this young man, he couldn't be more than seventeen or eighteen, he was terrified. It was likely he crossed Badger and that would almost certainly earn him a smile from the grumpy Captain.

Mal was still standing by Serenity looking just as irritable as when everyone had taken off and Book sighed, turning to the boy. "The man standing over there looking as if someone stole the engines off his ship - that is who you must talk to. I can't offer much advice beyond telling him your destination and how much you are willing to spend to get there. Just don't lie to him and you'll have a good chance of getting on board, alright?"

"Thanks, Shepherd." He nodded and turned to the Captain as Book quickly walked by.

As expected, Wash and Zoe were still out but the rest were back and looking more cheerful than they had in months. It was amazing what spending a bit of money could do for someones' mentality. Book smiled at everyone as he went by and handed fruit to each as he passed. He chuckled as a small bag of strawberries earned him a hug from Kaylee then hurried to the kitchen to put everything else away so he could retreat to the relative safety of his room.

It was only fifteen minutes after the appointed time when he heard the engines powering up, not long after that he heard a knock at his door and he went up to find the thin boy smiling at him.

"Thanks for your help. Captain Reynolds agreed to drop me off on Deadwood."

"Not much around there - are you sure it's where you want to go?" Book frowned, while the boy had said he wanted to get far away he had not expected such an unfriendly place to be the destination.

"Trust me, it's the best possible place there would be any chance of talking the Captain into." He said with a nod.

"Well, it's not a particularly short trip so you best get some sleep."

"_No._" There was an almost desperate edge to his voice. "No sleep. Trust me, you want me awake the whole time."

"It's not healthy to be awake too long and you look as if you've already gone a few days without rest." Book pointed out as his concern grew.

"Yeah… just… trust me. I paid the Captain extra to get me there as fast as possible." The boy admitted with a nervous smile. "He said he should be able to shave a few days off the usual time."

"If you are concerned with sleepwalking or something you might talk with our doctor. Just remember that you're safe here."

"No he's not." River murmured softly as she drifted by.

Book frowned after her while the boy spun and pressed his back to the wall as he watched her retreat with wide, terrified eyes. "Who is that?"

"Don't mind her too much… she went through some traumatizing experiences and can be a little unusual sometimes." He said soothingly, trying not to think about how often she was right. He would have to ask her about that later. "Since we are going to be here together for a while I suppose I really should introduce myself. I'm Shepherd Book"

"Oh… yeah…" He said, reluctantly looking away from the section of hall that River had long since vacated. "I'm Jerry."

"Well, it's good to meet you. I imagine the Captain has already explained things to you?"

"Mostly. Seems pretty simple, stay out of the way and don't go poking around. I may go see the doctor, though… Just need to get by until we land. Then I can sleep."

Book sighed and shook his head as the young man headed toward the infirmary.


	3. Chapter 3 - Simon

"You're kidding, right?" Simon stared at the boy who was clearly already suffering some negative side effects of sleep deprivation as well as malnutrition. Did he think this was a joke or a game? "I can't give you stimulants! My god, you're probably on the verge of hallucinating as it is! You need to sleep!"

"No… I can't." Jerry insisted. "Bad things happen when I sleep. I'm not asking you to keep me awake forever or give me enough to last for weeks - just a few days. Just until we land. I swear I'll sleep as soon as this ship is back in the sky. I **have** to stay awake until then."

"I'm sorry but morally and ethically I can't encourage you to further damage yourself. I can give you some sedatives. If you're worried you may do something to put us in danger we can lock you in your room, tie you to the bed, set Jayne to guard you… whatever it takes to make you comfortable. I'm not going to keep you awake, though." He made sure his tone was firm. As much as he hated even thinking about it, he might have to bring the Captain in to intervene if this guy wouldn't take no for an answer.

"You don't understand…" He huffed in frustration.

"Then help me."

"I… honestly, I don't think you'll believe me until you have too much proof to do anything about it." He dropped heavily into one of the chairs. "I've been told I'm insane enough in the last week but this isn't insanity. It's so much worse than that…"

"If you have a valid concern you should be able to offer proof of some kind."

"I do - but you won't believe it, anyway. No one has yet. They just laugh and tell me to go get some sleep." He leaned back against the wall and stared at the ceiling. "Believe me, I'd love to but it's not safe for me or anyone else."

"I've… seen some strange and insane things in my time." Simon admitted - being around River the last few months had guaranteed that. "Show me your proof and we'll go from there."

Jerry looked back down at him, holding Simon's gaze in silence for a few moments before coming to a decision. He stood, turned and pulled his shirt off. Running almost the length of his back were four long lacerations, the two in the middle seemed the deepest. From the look of the scabs he would estimate the injury to have been four or five days prior and all of them were showing signs of infection. It was odd - the pattern was similar to claw marks but the cuts were far too clean for that.

"Lay down - that has to be cleaned." He said with a sigh. "I can give you some antibiotics for this… what happened?"

"This is what happened last time I fell asleep." He said as he stifled a yawn. "I was alone in a safe and comfortable place. The wounds happened in my dream and I woke up with them."

"That's unusual but not entirely unheard of. The brain's ability to…"

"No. This isn't about my brain." He said impatiently. Simon didn't mind too much - even he had trouble believing just this guy's expectation of the wounds had been enough to create such deep cuts. Scratches maybe… if this had happened to River he might be a little more likely to believe. "There's something else going on and it sounds crazy but from what I've seen I have enough proof that I need to get as far from people as possible as fast as possible. These nightmares almost seem like they're contagious so the best thing for me to do is stay awake by myself and get off this ship as soon as it touches land."

Simon frowned but kept cleaning. Normally he would be safe in assuming the wounds were self inflicted but the angle of the cuts was clearly not possible to accomplish unassisted. Even if he had someone do this to him what would be the benefit? He wasn't looking for attention, just escape to an unpopular planet on the Rim. Even at the best of times if he were healthy he wouldn't be the sort of person Simon would assume could handle the hard life out there. This boy would be most comfortable in a more civilized area.

As he cleaned the wounds his mind was circling every book and paper he had read on the subject of sleep but he couldn't think of any disease, mental or physical, that would explain the spontaneous appearance of this kind of wound. Whatever the problem was, it wasn't medical. At least not the source problem. He was going to develop problems if this refusal to sleep continued.

"How long ago did you say these wounds happened?" Simon asked.

"Five days ago."

Simon sighed - that lined up with his estimate. It was possible to be awake for at least 11 days without risking permanent damage but that didn't mean it was wise or without consequences. "You said you had enough proof for your own satisfaction… what else can you tell me?"

"Nothing you'll believe." He grumbled. "I had a few friends who started getting these nightmares before me. Some kind of Reaver chasing them, getting closer every day. Always mocking and laughing at them. I thought it was a bad joke until they started waking up hurt… then they didn't wake up. As one died another started having nightmares. Then it started happening to me. Once the wounds start showing up like this you don't have long… I may survive sleep once more if I'm really lucky but then I also risk spreading it."

"That's very unlik-" Simon began, frowning as Jerry interrupted again.

"I'm not asking you to believe me." He snapped, twisting his head to look back at the doctor. "I just want you to humor me for a couple of days, alright? Maybe I'm insane and cut myself for attention. Maybe I was targeted by a murderer and escaped the planet. Maybe I'm telling the truth. Whatever you want to believe, all you have to do is _humor me_ for a few days then I'll be gone and it won't matter anyway."

"Quite a tale regardless." Mal said from the doorway. Simon almost dropped a bottle of antiseptic - he hadn't heard anyone in the hall. He had yet to get used to the Captain appearing out of nowhere as he did once in a while. The man could move silently on this old ship when he wanted to.

Jerry sighed heavily. "Just… keep me awake. That's all that matters."

"Keep you from fallin' asleep where a dream Reaver might get you?" Mal asked skeptically. "Doc, what really happened to cut him up like that?"

"I'd say-"

"Four long blades." Jerry interrupted again. Simon glared at him - that was getting old. "The Reaver had them attached to his hand."

The Captain looked to Simon with a raised eyebrow.

He nodded unhappily. "That… would explain the pattern and depth. I've never heard of a dream causing wounds of this magnitude but the injuries do match his description of what happened."

"What's the likelihood the boy ain't sane enough to know the truth after goin' without sleep?" Mal pressed. "Think he could have been attacked by a real person and thought it a dream?"

"No! I may be tired but I'm not crazy." Jerry said sharply, rolling off the table and wincing as his back twisted more than the wounds were prepared for.

"He… doesn't appear to have been awake long enough for hallucinations or any measurable level of psychosis." Simon admitted reluctantly. He couldn't believe the proffered story but while he couldn't rule out a pre-existing mental health issue, he was certain that there was nothing physically wrong with the boy that couldn't be explained by a lack of sleep and nutritious food for the last five days.

"Your call, then." Mal said with a shrug as he turned away. "Don't go wastin' supplies."

"So you going to help?" Jerry asked.

"Come back if your back starts bothering you. I'll give you antibiotics and something to help with the pain but I don't believe dreams are capable of causing harm like this." Simon said, sighing as the boy stormed off. What he needed most was sleep - only once he had gotten some real rest would he be thinking clearly enough to see his fears were unfounded. No sense wasting supplies as the Captain had pointed out. From what he could see Jerry would likely lose his battle to stay awake before they landed.


	4. Chapter 4 - Kaylee

"You alright?" Kaylee asked as she stepped in the kitchen for a drink. Their passenger was pacing, walking circles around the table and talking to himself. She wasn't quite sure what to make of the young man who came on board about the time she did at the Docks. He seemed so happy when the Captain took his money and let him by but he hadn't been very friendly when she greeted him. He mostly just looked scared.

She hadn't bothered him after that since it was possible he was scared of girls - it wasn't common but she'd seen it before - or just sick and didn't want to spread whatever he had, but she couldn't exactly give him space if he was wandering a common area like this.

"Have to stay awake…" He said, not stopping his rounds though he looked up at her with haunted eyes. "They won't help but I can't sleep. Don't let me sleep, alright? Wake me up if you see me start to drift off."

"Looks like you'd do well to get a bit of rest, though." Kaylee pointed out with a concerned frown as she made her way to the cups around his circling. "Sleep's nice, why don't you want to do it?"

"It's not nice for me… really, really bad nightmares. Trust me. Just… help me stay awake until we get to Deadwood."

"You talk to Simon?"

"The doctor? Yeah… he won't help. He doesn't understand and I don't blame him. I just have to stay awake." He said, looking back at the floor as he continued pacing.

"That's weird. He's usually really thoughtful." She leaned against the counter and sipped her drink as she watched Jerry. It was possible he wasn't right in the head so Simon turned him down. Watching him act like this it was easy to believe that was the cause but at least he didn't seem dangerous. If he was Mal would have… she frowned as she looked up to see Jayne watching the boy from one of the doorways.

He looked thoughtful, skeptical, amused and armed. That wasn't a good sign…

Without another word she gulped what was left of her drink, cleaned the cup and hurried off in search of the Captain. She really hoped they were overreacting to his odd behavior. Jerry seemed nice… just a little strange. She found Mal in the cockpit talking to Wash about the pro's and con's of potential shortcuts.

"Zenme le?" Kaylee frowned, looking between them. "That guy really dangerous or somethin'?"

"Doc says he's fine but I'm thinking my pocket's too light for this. Kid don't seem right in the head and we've got enough to worry about." Mal said, hardly sparing her a glance before looking back to the console. "Kaylee, I want that engine in top form and us far from here as possible fast as possible, dong ma?"

She bit back an angry reminder that he hadn't picked up a few parts that would help a lot with that. "Shi."

Before she could get more irritated, she spun and returned to the engine room. It wasn't often she found herself needing to take a deep breath and calm down but when she did it helped to be in her favorite place on the ship. It was already tuned as well as she could get it with what she had on hand. None of the parts were about to bust and that was a blessing, but a few were getting a little worn and Serenity's performance would improve if she could ever convince Mal to release enough money to get replacement parts before the old ones completely died. On the few occasions that had been managed she kept the old part as a spare… just in case. Some lessons had to be learned the hard way and since that last happened she'd even put some of her own money to making sure essential parts were kept on hand for emergencies.

She dropped into her hammock and sighed.

"Fast enough won't be fast enough." River said from beside her ear.

Kaylee clapped a hand over her mouth just in time to keep from screaming at the unexpected sound. "Aiya!"

"Did you know you can sleep while you're still awake?" River asked as she meandered back out of the room.

She took a deep, shaky breath and released it slowly. As much as she liked River she hated when she did that sort of thing… Why was that guy so obsessed with not sleeping, anyway? Kaylee shook her head and decided he could stay awake all he wanted - she was going to take a nap.


	5. Chapter 5 - Jayne

"You forget how chairs work?" Jayne demanded irritably. Five hours of watching this guy walk in circles and yawn left him weighing his cut of this scrawny brat's payment against the torture of a few more days of this. Surely Mal wouldn't hold it against him if he knocked the kid out and just left him tied up in a bunk somewhere until they landed.

"Easier to fall asleep sitting down…" He muttered, changing direction to circle the table clockwise.

Jayne growled, rolled his eyes and returned to cleaning his gun for the eighth time. Only thing worse than an impossible job was a babysitting job. At least with the impossible job there was the thrill of beating the odds. This was just a waste of perfectly good… _anything_ time. Anything would be better than waiting for the highly unlikely moment this kid snaps and attacks someone. What was Mal so worried about? Even if he did the guy was so weak he'd break his hand if he took a swing at anyone. Even Kaylee could subdue him with hardly any effort. Leaving _him_ with this job was practically an insult.

"How are you feeling?"

Jayne glanced up as Book walked in looking deeply concerned for their passenger as he always did for anyone less than happy. "Shiny. Your turn, Shepherd."

Before there was time to protest, Jayne high tailed it out of there. Mal said the kid couldn't go unsupervised but didn't specifically say it had to be _him_ watching the whole time. Everyone needs a break now and again. Particularly now. Definitely again. With a wide grin he went to lift some weights and try not to think about the paranoid guy wanting to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere.

A couple hours later he was scowling at a plate of food that would have normally been worthy of a smile. Mal had been less than happy about him abandoning the kid with the Shepherd and made sure he knew that he'd be on guard duty until further notice with the exception of when Mal himself came to give him a chance to sleep.

"Gorram freak…" Jayne muttered at Jerry as he paced back and forth in the small kitchen area since there was less room with everyone else around the table. Damn fool refused more than a few bites with the excuse that a full stomach would often encourage sleep.

Kaylee glared at him from across the table and Mal shot him another warning glance. Shepherd Book, ever trying to keep the peace, quickly stepped in as a distraction.

"Are you feeling alright, Kaylee? You seem troubled."

"Bu yao dan xin." She said with a shrug. "Just tired."

"Weren't you sleepin' instead of workin' on the engine earlier?" Mal asked quietly between bites. He didn't look up to see the girl's hurt frown or Wash's annoyance.

"Only so much can be done." Kaylee pointed out with no sign of her usual good humor.

"Nightmares?" Their passenger had frozen midstep and was staring at her with wide, scared eyes.

Jayne almost smiled and rested one hand on a gun while the other continued shoveling food in his mouth. Maybe it wouldn't be a boring night after all - kid may go unpredictable. Simon half-turned in his seat so he could see both of them and Kaylee looked over at Jerry with an uncertain frown.

"Wouldn't call 'em nightmares. Just not good dreams."

A fraction of his tension eased and the guy started pacing again. Jayne sighed in frustration. He'd considered suggesting to Mal they just drop the kid out the airlock since he was looking to go to a wasteland no sane person could possibly expect him to survive in. Jettison the the problem before it got worse. Unfortunately Mal was a bit weird and common sense seemed to pass right by him sometimes.

Not looking forward to spending the night watching this kid walk in circles, he cleaned his plate and snagged seconds where he could.


	6. Chapter 6 - Mal

Some days never seemed to end. Clocks stop and nothing seems to get done. Of all the times for that to happen… He sighed in frustration and leaned against the railing as he looked over the mostly empty cargo bay. He'd slipped. Had a 'Jayne moment'. Suspicious kid waves a stack of credits at him, assures him it ain't Alliance after him and happens to be going exactly the right direction. Away. Far away. Seemed easy enough. He didn't look threatening - weak and tired, sure. Now there was concern he wasn't right in the head or carried some kind of disease the doc didn't know about.

Gorram kid even claimed to be contagious though he seemed to think it only applied when asleep. The doc was confused and looked awful unhappy about that, the Shepherd was worried, Wash and Kaylee claimed the boat was going fast as it could and it just wasn't fast enough. Zoe thought it was foolish to take on a passenger in a state like that and figured he'd been asking for trouble from the start. River was floating around like a ghost as usual and Inara was avoiding him… as usual. No doubt Jayne wanted to just kill the kid and drop him on an asteroid. However appealing that might be there were some lines he had no intention of crossing and that was one of them.

He still wasn't pleased with Jayne's quick shuffling off of duties onto the preacher however much sense that made. Wasn't his job to delegate a task that had already been delegated. Book might be able to keep the passenger calm but most likely wouldn't and if the kid turned violent there wasn't much the 'holy man' could do. He'd have set Zoe on the task but she'd have better luck coaxing Wash to use any trick he knew in getting them to Deadwood faster. If only the kid had let them choose a closer planet…

A couple more hours to make sure Jayne had learned his lesson and he'd take over watching the kid try to wear a hole in the floor around the table. No amount of talking had convinced the kid to stay in his bunk. He insisted on being somewhere more open where the activity of people around him would help keep him awake. He mostly just annoyed and unnerved everyone, though.

An agonized, horrified shriek unlike anything he'd heard even in the war shattered the peace and had him sprinting for the kitchen. When he skidded to a stop it took a moment to comprehend just what he was looking at. Jayne was standing with a gun clutched in one hand and a dumbfounded look on his face as he stared at what was left of the passenger. The boy looked like he had exploded - blood was everywhere and he was pretty sure there was an arm on top of the cabinets.

"I know what you're thinkin' Mal…" Jayne said after a moment, unusually shaken. "I swear I didn't do… whatever just happened. Ain't my fault."

"What did just happen?" He asked as he tried to locate all the parts without getting too close to the central puddle. From what he could see it would have taken a much larger gun than Jayne was holding to do this kind of damage.

"Wo de ma…. Mal, he just... " Jayne shook his head and looked up at the Captain. There was none of the usual confident arrogance visible in his stance and that alone made Mal a little nervous. He'd never seen anything get to this guy. "Any other time I'd be impressed but I don't know how… He slowed down his pacing a little, stumbled, looked up like someone said something then just… fell to pieces and the pieces went flyin' everywhere."

"Need to get this cleaned up." He said, trying to ignore the four extra sets of eyes observing from doorways.

"No ruttin' way. I ain't touching that." Jayne said, falling back into his more familiar demeanor as he became aware of the others. Mal chose not to point out that there was already plenty of blood splattered across the big guy's clothing.

"Doc, help me out here. Gonna need your thoughts on this." He said, motioning for Simon to come in. Kaylee took off at a run, pale and looking like she was about to lose her dinner. Had he the ability he'd have kept her from seeing this. He gestured for Zoe to help, too, knowing she would. Book remained in one of the doorways silently praying over some of the remains that made it that far.

It took far too long with everyone working in virtual silence but eventually bags of body parts had been delivered to the infirmary for Simon to look at. He was hoping the doctor would be able to reassure him the kid had swallowed a small bomb or something. He could feel the tension of the crew - Zoe was silent as she helped him clean the last of the blood but he knew she was on edge. Kaylee was no doubt terrified and even Jayne was at least a bit scared. Unlikely he'd openly admit as much. He had no doubt Wash was going to be demanding answers and at the very least a change of course and all he could do was stall that conversation until he had something approaching answers. It was hard to make decisions when you didn't have all the facts.

* * *

Two hours later they couldn't find blood anymore. Mal was more sure by the minute that there were at least minor explosives involved - it was the only way that mess could have been remotely possible. Zoe left to try and keep Wash calm. He had come down once during the cleaning and quickly left again after catching sight of what looked like, and might have been, a murder scene. There had been no sign of River and for that he was glad.

On the way to see what the Doc had to say he noticed the door to Inara's shuttle was open and almost stopped in to check on her but as he got nearer he heard her singing softly over Kaylee crying. With a sigh he continued and stood in the infirmary door. Simon was circling the table, poking, prodding and generally looking confused. He had the parts cleaned up and laid out in the proper order. Without the blood everywhere it looked almost more like a dissection. If it was considered normal for the torso to be cut in half down the middle as well.

"Tell me he swallowed a grenade." Mal said, not able to smile inwardly as he usually did after sneaking up on him like this.

"You want me to lie to you?" Simon asked, glancing up at him after composing himself.

"Unless you got a better explanation."

"He swallowed a grenade." He recited dryly and looked back to the body.

Mal sighed heavily. "I'm not going to like the real explanation, am I?"

"Probably not but I've been surprised before." He said, stepping back to lean against the counter. "All clean cuts. They seem to be consistent with the blades used on his back. What really confuses me, though… the bones are cut through just as cleanly. Something like this had to have taken hours but the way Jayne described it… seconds? It's just not possible."

"Can't be thinkin' the kid was telling the truth about the dream Reaver." He scowled, not liking where this was pointing.

"I'd be more likely to believe he brought some kind of hallucinogen on board and this is all in our heads, a combination of drugs and mass hysteria… but if that's the case it's no drug I'm capable of testing for. I tried that already. I really don't know what to think at this point. Insanity or impossibility." He shook his head. "Normally I'd suggest we get to a good hospital where they could check us for everything possible on the off chance it's something new I haven't heard about but since that isn't really an option all we can do is observe the crew and make note of anyone showing symptoms. I'll see if there's anything I missed, anything that might offer a clue as to what really happened, though."

"You do that." Mal nodded and made his way back to the stairs, pausing halfway up to consider what he was going to say. Everyone would want answers he didn't have and to know what plans he had that weren't made yet. He hadn't gotten the feeling the kid had been going to Deadwood for a cure or answers, he'd been going because it was isolated. He'd been going to die. It hadn't been Mal's business what the kid wanted as long as he had the cash to cover his ride but now it left him with further uncertainty. There had to be something to stop whatever was going on.

Could be it wasn't as contagious as he thought. Could be the trouble was over the minute they jettisoned his remains, something he'd be doing soon as the Doc was done with them. It was too soon to do much of anything, though.

"Tooooooooo laaaaaaaaate!" River's high voice sang out from somewhere in the cargo bay.

Mal tried to ignore the icy chill that shot up his spine and continued walking. River was a nice girl but she was damned eerie sometimes.


	7. Chapter 7 - Zoe

She looked up as Mal walked in and grabbed the mic for the intercom, his features carefully controlled in an all too familiar way. She shared his concern and that fear she knew both of them were fighting back. Problems that attack with guns and knives were one thing - unknown problems that kill out of nowhere were another entirely. She squeezed Wash's shoulder and he looked up, waiting for the announcement. Whatever Mal had to say, he didn't want to repeat it and that was a bad sign.

"I'm sure all of you heard by now, our passenger died a few hours ago. We don't know the cause yet and I don't want anyone bothering the Doc while he's trying to work it out. If it ain't an emergency stay out of the infirmary. Anything particularly strange or troublesome happens let me know. Being troubled ain't the same as something troublesome happening." He clarified before he put it back and dropped into a chair.

"Where we going, Captain?" Wash asked carefully. Zoe relaxed slightly, he had been pretty worked up and had started to set course for the nearest hospital before she could talk him down. Commandeering the ship wouldn't help the situation - it would just make things harder on Mal.

"Hold course for now." He said after a moment. "Deadwood don't have to be our destination but the Blue Sun system is distant enough for comfort. We can pick up work on Meridian."

Zoe didn't have to look to know Wash disagreed but he knew better than to argue. At least at a time like this. It wouldn't do anything more than annoy the Captain and make a bad day worse.

Just then all that mattered was she had spent a couple of hours scrubbing blood off every surface within sight of the location of their ex-passenger's last breath. She trailed a hand across her husband's chest before stepping away. "Going to go get cleaned up and grab a nap. Back in a bit."

"No exploding." He ordered with a forced smile, a desperate attempt at lightening the mood as was normal when he was stressed. "I'll be furious if you explode."

She nodded, doing her best to return the smile but she was quite sure it came out more of a grimace. There wasn't anything she could say to make Mal feel better so she walked by silently. His eyes were closed and she couldn't tell whether he'd fallen asleep in that chair or was just deep in thought. It hardly mattered right then - being clean was all she could really bring herself to care about.

It was hard not to linger in the calming hot water but by the time she was sure all traces of blood were gone she felt almost groggy. It had been an unbearably long day and she gladly dropped onto her bed. Even without the comfort of Wash nearby she was asleep in moments.

* * *

She glanced around an unfamiliar street, breathed unfamiliar air, looked at unfamiliar houses and reached for her very familiar weapon. Pretty green lawns, carefully trimmed hedges, white picket fences, old fashioned architecture… She had only seen this in a few places, all trying to emulate Earth That Was, but there were no tell-tale signs of this just being one of those whimsical and expensive locales.

One house looked less friendly than the others, less inviting. The grass was a little overgrown, the paint a little chipped, the windows a little cracked. She eyed it uncertainly and started to back away. This was wrong - how did she get here?

She had taken three steps back when she tripped over something and stumbled. Looking down she saw Jerry's head smiling up at her. Another two steps away and the eyes opened.

"They really should have listened to me. Now Freddy's going to get all of you."

"Who?" She demanded as she drew her gun and prepared to fire on the next thing that moved.

A strong hand grabbed her shoulder hard and spun her around. "Me!"

Zoe was inches from the grotesquely smiling face of what she could only describe as a Reaver - his badly scarred head was partially covered by a dirty old hat, an ugly red and green striped sweater covered any scarring that extended to his torso. He raised one hand and wiggled blade tipped fingers in greeting.

* * *

Zoe gasped as she woke. She was standing in a corner as if she had backed into it, her gun was in hand and she was alone. Slowly she took a deep breath and released it, forced herself to repeat silently that it had been a dream. A strange dream.

When she reached out to set the gun down she became aware of a worrying pain.


	8. Chapter 8 - Simon

"You're sure you didn't bump into something?" He asked again. It was a stupid question but he kept hoping she would remember something.

"No. This 'Freddy' guy grabbed me." Zoe said, not looking at the clear, dark bruises that offered an unquestionably hand-shaped mark on her shoulder.

"And you're sure you've never met him before?" Simon repeated, wincing as she turned a baleful glare on him.

"Think I'd remember if I did. Nothing about him was familiar. The _only_ thing in the dream that I recognized at all was the severed head of our old passenger talking to me. I'm not claiming anything - just wanted your opinion on that bruise."

He nodded, unnerved by her intense gaze. As nice as she usually was, Zoe could be terrifying when she wanted to be. "It's pretty deep. Likely to hurt for quite a while. While it does look remarkably like someone grabbed you it _could_ still be a coincidence. You said you were sleepwalking and while it's unusual to spontaneously start doing that, it's possible you bumped something hard and it affected your dream. After what happened I would be surprised if most of us didn't have troubling dreams."

She nodded, pulled her shirt back up over her shoulder and slid off the examining table.

Jerry's body was prepared for disposal. There were no further tests he could run, no point to having it sitting out. All it could do was frustrate him and upset the others. Mal wasn't going to like his lack of progress in finding a rational explanation for what happened but it was either admit to being stumped or make some absurd claim like 'he swallowed a grenade'.

Simon rolled his eyes. Seriously? Where had he come up with that? It didn't take a trained professional to see the very clean cuts. No explosive is going to sever all joints and leave a perfectly straight line completely bisecting the torso. That was the part that really bothered him. Even the spine was perfectly split in half. No compression, no rough edges. Anything that could do _that_ was insanely sharp and masterfully used. For it to also be invisible to a witness…

He had considered that Jayne may have been drunk… asleep himself perhaps. It still left a lot of questions. Foremost being who would have done it? Jayne certainly lacked the skill for such perfect cuts and no one else was likely to either kill or do so in such a strange way. Most of those who fought relied on guns or fists. It just didn't make sense and exhaustion was creeping up on him to further skew his judgement.

With a sigh he left for the night and dropped into his bed. He had barely closed his eyes when something splashed on him. He looked up to see River on the edge of laughter, a bottle of soda in one hand. "What are you doing?"

"You look annoyed." She observed without a hint of guilt in her smile.

"I need sleep, of course I'm annoyed! Go bother Jayne or something." He grumbled, starting to resettle. River took another sip of soda and spit it at him. It took a moment for his tired brain to comprehend what she had just done. Was she seriously spitting sticky substances at him and onto his bed? She started to take another drink.

"You wouldn't dare…" He stated incredulously. She spit another thin stream to splash across his chest.

With a peal of laughter she darted out of the room with him close behind. Get the soda first, then a shower, change the bedding, _then_ sleep. He scowled and was glad for the years of all-nighters in med school.


	9. Chapter 9 - Inara

The shuttle was too quiet and allowed too much room to think. Inara gave up on rest, turned on some music and made a pot of tea. She had spent most of the evening trying to comfort Kaylee but she was almost inconsolable. No one on this ship was a stranger to death but what she had seen was clearly more than just that. From what she had gathered it was absolutely gruesome. Inara was glad she had been trying to stay in her shuttle more and would not have to remember the scene as Kaylee would.

She had heard all the rumors that had been circulating and considered separating her shuttle just in case but what would that really do? They were too far from a planet for her to get anywhere safe. Their course would keep them well away from anyone who would care how fast they were traveling. She would be stuck here and have to worry about possible infection with whatever disease caused that poor boy to die so horribly. While most of Kaylee's concern was the terrible sight, she was also deeply upset that he had been so certain it _was_ contagious.

With a soft sigh, Inara sat in one of her comfortable seats with the soothing warmth and smell of her favorite tea. Part of her mind was scolding her for not having left sooner, for postponing the inevitable. What was right and what was desired often conflicted and she was bothered by how easy it was to set aside what was right for just a little while. Sometimes 'a little while' grew beyond the limitations of the phrase when one wasn't looking.

She closed her eyes, sipped her tea and tried to turn her mind entirely to the soothing, familiar strains of the music.

* * *

Inara opened her eyes as she was caught around the waist and found herself dancing. Her surprise was quickly masked through habit and she smiled at the handsome young man who led her through the spinning couples in an intricate pattern all the others followed with great care. She felt no need to talk - it was not necessary when dancing and could be considered impolite in some places. Though she could not remember where this was… Who this was…

She blinked and realized it was Mal. Slide, spin, step… she focused on the movements for a moment as she tried to remember how she got there. He smiled at her, that pained look she so often saw in his eyes was absent. His smile was genuine and he made no effort to disguise the adoration he usually took pains to control. In truth she could not remember the last time he had looked so happy.

Knowing it was foolish, she allowed herself to let go and simply enjoy the moment. However much she wished to deny it, she had wanted this for a long time and did her best to hide her pleasure as a slower song played and he drew her closer.

"Gou huang tang, Inara." He said softly in her ear as he pulled her closer. "Ain't no reason we should keep dancing around each other even when there's no music. I love you. I have for a long time."

"I… know." She felt a stab of guilt as he leaned back enough to look her in the eyes and she saw the deep pain. How many times had she wished for him to say those words? How many times had she wanted to repeat them back? There was so much complication involved in that, though…

"That's all? I know I'm a fool but you know what you are?" He asked sadly. She didn't have a chance to respond, she blinked and was suddenly in the arms of a horribly scarred man in filthy clothing. He smirked and pain exploded as a gloved hand covered in blades plunged into her chest. "You're a heartless whore."

He cackled as she stared at the beating heart in his hands while the crowd around them stood laughing… clapping… cheering….


	10. Chapter 10 - Wash

He stared at the vastness around them, the distant stars were beacons to guide the lost back home. Most days he reveled in this view, the freedom and beauty of endless space. All around them were infinite possibilities. On that particular day all he could see were distant points of light in a claustrophobic darkness. In spite of being at the helm of a craft capable of going almost anywhere, he felt trapped.

Wash stared at the dinosaurs clustered around the button that would disengage autopilot. For two hours he had been debating mutiny. Something was wrong on the ship. He hadn't talked with that Jerry guy much but he was clearly paranoid and delusional - whether his issue was physical or mental the logical thing to do was get to a hospital where tests could be run and answers had. Simon may be a skilled surgeon but there was only so much he could do on a small ship.

Mal's comfort zone was far from most other breathing things and with the odd happenings on board it might just be a death warrant to humor him. Changing course might save them if Mal was distracted but if he noticed the change it would get ugly. Zoe would back him even after what had happened to bruise her. It was hard to believe it was a dream injury that followed her out but Zoe was the most level headed person he had ever met and if she was sure, he wasn't going to argue too much. That didn't get him any closer to deciding whether to push that button.

He was still exchanging meaningful glances with the Stegosaurus an hour later when he heard a horrified scream. He was out of his seat and sprinting out in a heartbeat. That had been Kaylee!

He skidded to a stop outside Inara's shuttle. Kaylee was curled up next to the door sobbing and a quick glance through the open portal made his stomach churn. Rushing footsteps grew closer and he pulled the door closed before turning to face Mal.

"Get the Doc." He said firmly, hoping the order wouldn't start a fight. He hated being ordered around. "Don't look."

"What happened?" Mal demanded, looking at the door with a carefully controlled expression. Wash hated that look - it was hard to measure him, almost impossible to judge his reactions.

"Don't know." He said. "Get Simon."

Though he gave Wash a dark look, he hurried toward the infirmary. While they waited he sat and wrapped Kaylee in a hug, letting her cling to him as she cried. Jayne stood not far away and started to speak but Wash shot him a warning glare. Nothing that man could say would possibly do more than upset Kaylee more. She had seen too much in the last couple days - the poor girl was too nice to have this sort of thing happen around her.

'Did Inara explode, too?' Jayne mouthed silently. Wash wished for the thousandth time he were strong enough to beat Jayne in a fight. All he could do was be glad Kaylee hadn't had to see or hear that phrase. Zoe appeared behind Jayne, glanced at the door and raised an eyebrow. Wash gave a small nod and she pulled Jayne away.

He was still quietly protesting when Mal and the doctor pushed past them.

"Just Simon." Wash said again as Mal reached for the door.

"I ain't going to turn my back on the goings on in my ship." He snapped.

Wash turned a pleading look on the doctor but it was hard to deter Mal once his mind was made up. He knew what would happen to some extent. Wash recognized the way Mal had always looked at Inara and while he wasn't sure the exact reaction, he knew…

The door opened and Mal froze. He didn't even breathe as he took in the scene. Simon stared, shocked and unmoving, until Mal turned and stumbled away. Wash wished he had the power to spare Mal that memory. He couldn't imagine how he would be able to handle it if he saw Zoe like that.

Inara hadn't exploded - that might have been easier to deal with. She was sitting in a chair, her chest ripped open, empty eyes wide in shock. Blood covered everything in front of her in a wide spray. He closed his eyes and tried to bring any other image to mind as he tried to calm Kaylee in silence. Simon carefully stepped into the room looking upset but not nearly as queasy as Wash felt. The door clanged shut behind him.


	11. Chapter 11 - Simon

It was hard to breathe, hard to think, hard to believe. Inara was dead - murdered. There was no other explanation. Her ribs had been pried apart, splayed, and her heart removed. After a few minutes he found it shoved in her teapot.

Though this was not as hard to explain as Jerry's death, it remained mysterious. Who did it? Of the remaining crew he had trouble believing anyone but Mal, Zoe or Jayne had the strength to do this and the only one that seemed even the slightest bit likely was Jayne.

The Captain liked her too much and Zoe simply had no reason to kill her. Jayne was a wild card but this would be stupid even for him. Would he really be dumb enough to provoke the Captain so far from the safety of a planet? Jayne only killed for money or convenience from what he'd seen and it would take an insane amount of money for him to do this right now.

A little voice in the back of his head 'helpfully' reminded him of the passenger's words. Dreams came to life. He died in an impossible way. Zoe was bruised by a dream and Inara died clearly while attempting to get to sleep. She was wearing a nightgown and drinking non-caffeinated tea. He sighed heavily and slid down the door to sit and stare at the gruesome scene. What was he supposed to do about this? She was unquestionably dead and Mal was not going to handle it well. No one was but he would be worse off than most.

Cause of death? Removal of heart. Who did it? No one. Even though it seemed most likely to be Jayne and he had a very low opinion of that glorified neanderthal, he couldn't quite believe he would do something like this. There just wasn't enough money in it. Either there was a murderous stowaway or Jerry had been right.

The cuts required to open her chest had been clean. A sharp knife - sharp enough to sever bone. Just like Jerry's spine. The precision ruled out even Jayne - he preferred guns and it would shock Simon if they found a knife on board capable of what he had seen. But how was it possible? A dream Reaver killing people? It was insanity to even consider believing this… but perhaps advising people to avoid sleep…

He sighed, not wanting to think about the way River had kept him awake all night. She had found a way to wake him up every time he started to drift off. When he protected himself from the soda she had thrown things, when he accounted for that she kept up such an interesting commentary that he simply couldn't _not_ listen. He was exhausted but what was he supposed to do? He had to sleep some time and River never would explain why she was doing this. She just looked worried and laughed nervously.

Finally he wrapped Inara in a blanket to take to the infirmary, retrieved her heart, cleaned what he could and hoped to find a way to hide everything from the Captain as he worked to learn anything he could that might implicate someone not in a dream for what happened to Inara.


	12. Chapter 12 - Book

He prayed silently as he had for the young man who died. However much he disapproved of Inara's profession, she had been a good and kind woman he enjoyed speaking with. Her death was still sinking in and no amount of praying seemed to make it any easier to accept. Who could have done it? Everyone adored her…

As a Shepherd he couldn't approve, of course, but it didn't make her less of a good person if her job was ignored. He sighed and stared at the ceiling in his small room. Perhaps it was time to slip away from this crew. As much as he enjoyed the company, more than any others he had come across, they were not the most moral of folks and not inclined to change their ways. He'd been part of some unpleasant situations already and did not relish the thought of being involved in more. 'Saving' these people was impossible and with this sort of thing going on… one of them must have lost their mind but he couldn't begin to guess who. That was the unnerving part. He was too close to the problem and it was blinding him. How far had he fallen already? He had become a Shepherd for good reason and he felt himself sliding away… back to the person he had been…

He shook his head and sighed. After seeing the fate of that poor boy he had barely been able to sleep but now exhaustion was catching up with him.

* * *

Book knelt in prayer in a church he didn't recognize. It didn't matter. He recited the familiar words and enjoyed the peace they brought. He knew he was troubled but the details were fuzzy - something unpleasant had happened and rather than try to remember what it was, he simply pushed it away as he did most of the unpleasantness of his past and gave himself over to the prayer.

He had said every prayer he knew three times before he heard someone drop into the pew beside him. The man began speaking softly, his tone mocking.  
"Our father who art in hell  
Terror be thy name.  
I'll kill this guy,  
Rip out his eye  
And laugh as he begs for mercy."

Book turned to the one who said such horrible things and froze. The man was covered in the twisted scars common to burn victims but that could be overlooked - the malevolent smirk, the hatred in his eyes… that could not be ignored.

"What do you think, preacher man?" He said with a wide grin as he raised his gloved and bladed hand, resting the sharp tips uncomfortably against the shepherd's right shoulder. "Think you can exercise a real demon or you sticking to the weak ones in your head?"

"This… is impossible…" Book said, standing and stumbling away as memories of Jerry and Inara sharpened and filled his mind. "You're the dream Reaver?"

"Oh, I love that." He laughed and stood to saunter closer, taking a step forward for every step the Shepherd took back. "Dream Reaver! Sounds much better than most of the things I've been called. Usually 'evil bastard' or 'sadistic son of a bitch'. Doesn't change the fact that I'm going to kill you and there is nothing your God can do to stop me."

"There is no such thing as an unstoppable evil."

"Only because you never met **me**." He smirked and lashed out, the blades attached the glove lengthened to penetrate his left arm just below the shoulder.

* * *

Book woke with a scream and looked at his still hurting arm. Blood was already beginning to pool on the bed and seemed to be flowing too fast. He quickly wrapped it with a shirt and headed for the infirmary where he could only hope to find Simon.


	13. Chapter 13 - Kaylee

She didn't want to be alone. It was late and everyone was needing sleep but she really didn't want to be alone… not after seeing Inara. Every time she closed her eyes she saw it again and it just hurt too much. After wandering the ship for a while she found Simon, tired and frustrated, in the infirmary.

"Are you okay?" He asked immediately upon seeing her. She shook her head and he rushed over to give her a much needed hug.

"Can't believe she's gone." She murmured into his shoulder as she fought back tears again.

"Me either." He whispered. "This is all just so strange."

"Figure out what happened?" Kaylee wasn't at all certain she wanted to know. Mostly she wanted to wake up and have everything be shiny again.

"Not yet." He said uncomfortably.

She nodded and sighed, reluctantly letting go of the doctor so he could return to his work. He had been scanning text in hopes of finding some answer and she knew that was more important than a futile effort to make her feel better. "Looks like you could use some rest… this bothering you so much you can't sleep?"

"Well, it _does_ bother me a lot that I can't seem to find a reasonable explanation but no, River won't let me sleep. That's not helping find something _rational_, either." He grumbled and paced as she dropped into a chair.

"She thinks Jerry was telling the truth?"

"She hasn't said as much but since she throws things at me every time I start to drift off, I think she might." Simon sighed heavily and shook his head. "I don't want to overlook a possible solution but I also can't quite believe what he proposed."

"Well, maybe…" Kaylee fell silent as Shepherd Book stumbled in, clutching a bloody shirt to his arm and looking awful pale.

Simon silently strode over and helped Book to the examining chair as the poor guy struggled to stay conscious. He quickly gathered supplies, unbound the arm and set to work. Kaylee watched the two silently, worried all over again. Book looked scared and that was understandable but Simon… he tried to hide it but she could see he was terrified as he worked, carefully cleaning and stitching up the wounds.

"You'll be alright, Shepherd." He said at last. "Just… don't go to sleep."

"What happened?" Kaylee asked nervously.

"This is insane… but just in case." He shook his head as he held Book's gaze. "Think you can stay awake until we figure this out?"

The Shepherd nodded and Kaylee looked between the two. "What happened?"

"Same thing that happened to Jerry." Simon admitted unhappily. "Instead of being cut by the four blades, Book was stabbed by them. One severed the brachial artery but he was able to get here before he lost too much blood. You'll still be weak for a while and I think it would be best for you to stay here until I'm sure you're going to be alright… but it should be fine."

Book nodded and took the pain pills Simon handed him. She watched uncomfortably as the Shepherd lay there being unusually silent. He wouldn't even look her in the eyes and that was unsettling.

"So there really is a dream Reaver?" She asked softly, fear gripped her again as Book nodded.

"Since we have nothing else to go on, I think we should treat it as if the story is true." Simon said carefully. "I'm going to continue looking for other explanations but for now we should probably avoid letting anyone sleep when possible."

"I'll go wake the others." Kaylee said and hurried to the Captain's room. He hadn't been seen since he found out about Inara and no one wanted to intrude while he was upset but if there was anyone who could get away with bothering him, it was her.

She knocked four times before the door opened. Mal looked at her in silence for a moment and stepped away. He didn't tell her to go away or close the door so she considered it good as an invitation. He looked terrible and even if she didn't have a message to relay, he needed a friend. Kaylee followed and sat on the bed beside him. No point asking if he was okay - he wasn't. She just wrapped him in a hug.

"Everything alright out there?" He asked after a moment, his voice was hoarse and she suspected he'd spent much of the day either crying or yelling in such a way as to not upset the crew further.

"Bu hao." She admitted and rested her head on his shoulder. "Simon hates it but thinks the dream Reaver might be real. Wants everyone to stay awake til he can prove otherwise."

"What got him to changin' his mind?"

"Shepherd book got attacked, too. Stabbed with four blades in his arm." She quickly caught herself as he stood and left her unsupported. "He's all patched up now and Simon says he'll be okay."

"Need to see for myself. Go ahead and wake up anyone else sleeping." He said, quickly disappearing through the door. Kaylee sighed and pulled herself up with much less enthusiasm. Why couldn't _this_ be the nightmare?


	14. Chapter 14 - Zoe

The ship seemed colder than usual. Of course it had nothing to do with the temperature, just her perception as the remaining crew kept to themselves and tried to adjust to the sudden change to comfortable routine. In spite of the dark, hand-shaped bruise still making her shoulder ache, even though she had seen this dream Reaver herself, it seemed absurd. She had seen in the past that the absurd was often true, though.

What good would denial do when she had the closest it was possible to get to proof without dying and there had already been two deaths that could best be explained by accepting that their ex-passenger had been telling the absolute truth. However strange, however silly it sounded - there was an ugly hundan on this ship who could kill them while they slept.

Anyone she caught sight of looked haunted, terrified. Kaylee seemed to be handling it the worst and was spending most of her time around Simon. He had begun distributing stimulants to anyone who needed them while Mal paced and tried to decide what to do. Wash paced elsewhere and she had to leave before his outbursts caused her to say something she was sure she'd regret. He was talking in circles same as everyone else with the primary difference being he could turn the ship to a hospital if he chose while few others had that option.

She glanced over silently as Mal dropped onto the crate beside her and stared unseeing across the cargo bay. "He going to turn us around?"

"I don't think so, sir." She wished she could sound more certain and she was reasonably sure he would hold course to Deadwood but once in a while he surprised her. If he did this time she would have to choose between her husband and the Captain because there was no way his rebellion would be shrugged off or ignored.

"Good. Supposing this is exactly what that kid claimed, we'd be bringing death down on any planet we land on and I'd rather not be the cause of that. If he's wrong we just stayed awake a long time for no reason and I can handle that. Need to figure out how to make these nightmares stop, kill that Reaver."

"He's not a Reaver." Shepherd Book's voice startled both her and Mal - how long had he been standing there?

"Ain't a Reaver?" Mal narrowed his eyes. "What, then?"

"He calls himself a demon."

"Zaogao…" Mal snarled. "Thinkin' we need to just pray him away?"

"I don't think that would be enough in this situation." He admitted.

Zoe watched the preacher's face seeking any sign of confidence but finding none. He looked just as lost as the rest of the crew. "What do you think we should do, then?"

Slowly he shook his head. "I'm not sure there's anything that can be done. I've never heard of a demon named 'Freddy' but I am certain he is powerful enough to be confident."

"What did he say to you?" Mal demanded.

"Very little I would care to repeat verbatim. I do know he has no more fear of me or my faith than he has of anyone else on this ship. How do you destroy something that controls your perceptions on the occasions you see it? Our greatest act may, indeed, be finding an unpopulated planet where he may be trapped."

Zoe scowled at him. "So we should just lay down and let him kill us on the assumption that we'll be his last victims? There has to be a way to fight him."

"There might be."

All three looked up as Simon strode over. While he wasn't smiling he also lacked the look of hopelessness she was seeing on most others. Mal raised an eyebrow. "Shenme?"

"Well, I haven't been able to find anything about people dying like this in their dreams but I did come across a few articles about people dealing with recurring nightmares through lucid dreaming techniques. Expectation shapes perception in dreams and once they were able to realize they were asleep it was possible for them to give themselves superhuman abilities that allowed them to fight back. There was a high rate of recovery from persistent nightmares using this method." He said, almost smiling. "All we really have to do is try to-"

A roar of pain interrupted him and Simon turned on his heel to dash back to the infirmary. Zoe followed Mal to the source of the shout that had become a barrage of cursing in both English and Chinese. They left room for the doctor to get by as they looked in at Jayne.

"That xiniu son of a shanyang cut off my gorram trigger finger!" Jayne howled, holding a balled up shirt against the stump as he stared at the severed digit on the floor nearby.

Simon stopped and frowned, having heard the summary as he approached. He was clearly relieved it was a relatively small injury and let his annoyance surface. "I told you to stay awake… Bring your finger to the infirmary and I should be able to reattach it."

She sighed and left Jayne babbling about the heartless piece of go-se who attacked him as he followed Simon. He was going to be even more unpleasant to be around now - she may even be willing to throw money at him just to get him to be quiet. If they couldn't figure out a way to stop the demon that money wouldn't be worth anything, anyway.

Wash met her on the way to the cockpit, eyes wide. "Was that Jayne?"

"Yeah. He fell asleep and the dream Reaver cut off his favorite finger." She said dryly.

"The middle one?"

She rolled her eyes and almost smiled as he wrapped her in a hug. Annoyances of earlier forgotten, they retreated to the cockpit where they wouldn't have to hear the occasional whimpers and shouts echoing up as the doctor stitched his finger back on.

* * *

She blinked. It seemed only a blink… she had been watching the stars while sitting next to Wash then she blinked and found herself looking up at a dark blue evening sky.

"Go-se…" She spat and sat up - why had she been lying down? Looking at the street around her she saw that there was a white outline where she had been laying as well as hastily scrawled arrows pointing away from her and the word 'Run' written multiple times.

The revving of an engine behind her had her on her feet in a heartbeat but she froze as she looked behind her to see a monstrosity. It was an old fashioned car like those parked here and there along the streets - but the front of it had the demon man's deformed face melded to the metal. He gave her a wide smile and the engine revved again. His eyes lit up to cast bright spotlights on her.

"On your mark!" He shouted gleefully. "Get set! GO!"

Shaking off the shock, she turned and ran, quickly veering off the road to jump over a fence as she sought a building that horrible vehicle wouldn't be able to enter or a strong tree he wouldn't be able to knock over. Have to fight back, have to fight back… She thought to herself, feeling for guns on her belt but finding nothing. She wore only the simple clothing common to the era of the cars. Jeans and t-shirt, flimsy belt that served more as decoration than the functional sort she was used to.

Hadn't Simon said there was a way to fight? She struggled to pull what felt like distant memories to the front of her mind. Fighting nightmares… expectation. She had to expect things. Will them… She hopped another fence as she heard the car crash through behind her. As she ran she willed a gun to appear in her hand but she couldn't focus enough while running. She opted to buy time by turning her attention to getting to a tree and smiled as she saw a big one two yards over.

The engine revved again behind her and she heard the snapping of fence posts but she didn't push herself any harder - had to pace herself. She had jumped the last fence and was approaching the tree when silence fell. She didn't quite stop but looked over her shoulder and saw the trail of destruction that marked her pursuer but there was nothing at the end. She scanned the area around but all was still. She reached the trunk of the tree and took deep, even breaths as she listened for any movement.

A soft rustle overhead was immediately followed by a heavy thump in front of her. She looked down and forgot to breathe as Wash's vacant eyes looked back at her. Though the head was not attached to a body it smiled and spoke with the harsh voice of the dream Reaver. "Just figured I'd head you off."

* * *

Zoe gasped and sat up straighter in the chair as she jerked back to wakefulness. The movement jostled Wash as he leaned against her. She couldn't quite hold back a scream as his head fell away from her shoulder and dropped into her lap to stare at her with wide, frightened eyes. His body slumped and fell forward as she sat motionless, barely aware of the footsteps approaching fast along the walkway outside.


	15. Chapter 15 - Mal

Never in his life had he seen Zoe like that. It was unnerving in the worst way to watch her come to terms with what happened. Even back in the war she handled the death around her with quiet determination just as she had the mess near the kitchen. This…

Mal glanced over at the sleeping warrior. The doctor had to sedate her to get her under control and assured everyone that the drug used was known for creating a dreamless sleep. Everyone wanted to ask for some but no one did - if there was enough to go around he'd have offered. As tired as he was, as heavily as the situation weighed on him, Mal wasn't sure it would be worth the trouble of dreamless sleep. Inara was gone, Wash was gone, Zoe was half out of her mind between shock and grief. Simon didn't look much better as logic and rational thought seemed less likely to apply with each death. Kaylee sat next to Zoe, stroking her hair and looking to be lost in her own world.

Jayne and River were nowhere to be seen and the preacher was off most likely praying for the lot of them. Frustrated and with no idea what else to do, Mal went to stand by Kaylee and rested a hand on her shoulder. Of the whole crew she was the only one who really needed any measure of what help he could offer.

She didn't look away from Zoe, just leaned against him. "Wo bu xiwang si."

"Ain't one of us wants to die." He sighed, hating how little encouragement he could give her. Normally he'd try harder but every time he thought of the look on Inara's face… had to remember she wasn't around to bicker with anymore, a weary hopelessness descended and all the fight drained away. It was a bad time to surrender but between the loss of two crew members and the possible nature of what killed them - what was he supposed to do? How do you fight something that ain't real?

"We can't stay awake forever." Simon said quietly, not looking up at him. "We have to figure out how to fight back. There has to be a way to survive."

"From what Zoe had to say about what she saw in that first dream if this guy is what he seems to be, he's been around since long before people left Earth-That-Was."Mal pointed out wearily. "Think we can do what no one else has in all that time?"

A small sob escaped Kaylee and Simon turned a glare on him. "You have never struck me as someone to give up, Captain. Your determination has won the loyalty of many good people in the past yet you act like we're already dead. I do think we have a chance to do what no one else has before. For one thing, no one else has had River. It's possible she may be able to do something. So far she seems the only one who is willing to believe all this and act on it. She's been keeping me awake. Maybe we can learn something from her."

Hope and frustration warred as he thought back to past conversations with the girl. It was true River had some unexpected talents but getting a straight conversation out of her was near impossible. Didn't seem she could voluntarily access everything she knew, anyway. It was a gamble at best.

"See if you can't get some sense out of her, then. We'll try whatever she suggests." He said, patting Kaylee's shoulder a few times before going in search of a strong drink and a stronger coffee.


	16. Chapter 16 - Kaylee

Once the Captain had gone Simon pulled her up and hugged her tight. Kaylee clung to him but she had no tears left. There just weren't enough tears in the 'verse for how she felt and now all she wanted was the sleep she couldn't have.

"It'll be alright, Kaylee." He whispered and she wanted to believe him but there wasn't much confidence in his voice. "We'll figure this out and make it stop."

"Really think River will know what to do?" She asked weakly. River could do amazing things but this still didn't seem like something she would be able to handle.

"I think she'll have a better chance than the rest of us of figuring something out." He admitted after a moment. "Just have to find her. If I pretend to sleep she'll show up fast enough."

"Guess I should let you, then." As much as she didn't want to, she released him and stepped back. He almost took a step to follow her but restrained himself. _He always restrains himself._ She thought bitterly as she left the infirmary and walked. There wasn't any goal in mind since she had nowhere to be, nothing to be done so far from anywhere.

It wasn't long before she found herself in the cockpit, her heart aching as she remembered she'd never see Wash's goofy smile again. She heard a rustle and stepped around the console to see River curled up and flipping through a manual. "You okay?"

"Serenity is lonely… have to learn to keep her company. Simple. She wants me to know." River muttered.

"You're… learning to fly?" Kaylee blinked. She hadn't taken the time to consider who would take Wash's place. Of course the Captain could fly and she might be able to figure out the details since she knew the mechanics but it hadn't even occurred to her that River would be interested.

The girl looked up at her, wide eyes haunted. "Already know. Just remembering her."

"Oh... " She sat next to her and watched as River flipped rapidly through pages filled with text and diagrams so fast Kaylee didn't have time to register the contents of one before the next page came around. "Simon said you might know how to make all this stop... "

"Apply brakes." She answered without looking up. "Turn off the engine."

"No, I mean the dream Reaver." Kaylee said nervously. It didn't bode well when she was like this.

"Gas." River said, looking up from the manual for a moment. With a small nod she looked back down and resumed flipping pages. "Lots of gas."

"You mean we just need to go faster or never stop or-"

"**SIMON!**"

Kaylee barely had the time to register the interruption before River had disappeared, only the fast retreating sound of footsteps indicated that she had not simply vanished. Simon… She quickly hopped up and followed after but stopped at the top of the stairs as River's horrified scream echoed out over the cargo hold.

She wasn't sure how long she stood there before she felt a hand on her shoulder and the Captain moved her aside. "Ain't no reason for you to go down there."

All she could do was nod and watch him hurry down to the infirmary. She didn't want to see… not after the others. She couldn't stand the thought of seeing Simon like that. There were no tears left, Kaylee stumbled toward the kitchen - away from another dead friend.


	17. Chapter 17 - Book

Screams… he was so tired of hearing screams. Each one an alert that someone he had come to care about was gone. Under other circumstances the remaining crew would pray together, grieve and offer comfort. Here such things were disallowed and a source of great frustration, doubly so since no one else seemed to resent the restriction enforced by the Captain.

The demon's mockery still weighed on him and he was ashamed that his faith had been shaken. He had not always been a Shepherd and there was a goodly amount of sin that he had yet to completely forgive himself for. The Lord was far more forgiving than he was. Some moments he was sure his faith was strong enough to stand against the dream Reaver, other times he wondered what kind of fool he was to even consider it. He wasn't trained in exorcisms and nothing he knew about fighting would help in this situation. He was just as helpless as the others.

He was still mulling over these unhappy thoughts when Kaylee stumbled in, her eyes red and swollen though she looked as if she was about to cry again. Book stood quickly and she lurched forward, hugging him tight enough to make breathing difficult. He began to ask if she was okay but she clearly wasn't. He began to reassure her that it would be alright but he was less sure of that by the hour. He simply hugged her and softly sang a hymn while she clung to him.

"I left him…" She whispered after a while, her voice unsteady. "Left him and he died… He thought River was watchin' over him but I distracted her and now he's gone…"

Book sighed. So it had been Simon… "It's not your fault. He knew how important it was to stay awake."

"I shoulda told River to go see him, shoulda told him to call for her, shoulda stayed with him... " She buried her face against his chest. "I killed him."

"No, Kaylee." He said firmly, his heart breaking for the poor girl. "Don't blame yourself. He was a bright young man and should have known to be careful. It's not your fault he made a mistake."

She wouldn't talk after that so he simply sat and let her remain with him as he recited sermons about grief and forgiveness. It was all he could do.


	18. Chapter 18 - Jayne

Another scream, one less mouth to feed. One less pair of hands grabbin' for profits. As nice as that sounded in his head, the simple truth was that at this rate there wouldn't be profits to split. No crew meant no jobs and they were losing crew fast. He paced around the kitchen table, trying not to think of the last person who did that. Just then it seemed a good idea. Too restless to sleep even though he was tired, too frustrated to sit still, too tired to exercise properly. Couldn't shoot the problem, couldn't beat the threat into submission - what was he supposed to do?

Grumbling, he walked in circles. He already missed the briefly amusing comments while Mal was downing coffee in the kitchen but he'd gone off to see who that last scream was for. Didn't matter - it wasn't him. Wash was gone but Mal could fly the ship just fine. None of the fancy maneuvers but enough to get on and off planet without running into things. He wasn't sure what to expect when Zoe woke up. She was normally predictable but no tellin' where a woman's mind would go when she lost her husband. She may sit in a corner and cry - though that didn't sound like something Zoe would do - or she might get violent.

Jayne was hoping for violence, that would be something familiar. Something he could handle. It would be a distraction from a trigger finger that couldn't pull the gorram trigger. He'd have to shoot left handed for a while and while he was fairly accurate, it was an inconvenience. He hated that dream Reaver freak… sneaky bastard…

Waiting.

Waiting was always the hardest part.

Waiting for what? He asked himself yet again. Waiting to die? No one had answers. No one knew how to kill this thing. There was only the waiting.

"The hell with this." He finally snarled and returned to his bed. The doc had said it might be possible to fight back in dreams. They just had to be confident in their ability. Well, he was caught off guard last time - most nights he dreamed of being strong enough to take over worlds. He'd show that hundan what pain was!


	19. Chapter 19 - Kaylee

She sat curled up against the Shepherd and listened to words she knew should make her feel better but there was this big empty hole in her chest that just seemed to get bigger. Inara, Wash, Simon… they had all meant so much… no more smiles, no more laughter. Was it going to stop or would everyone die? Did she want to be the last one on Serenity? Could she stand it?

She shuddered and enjoyed the momentary comfort of the Shepherd tightening his hug as he spoke. She did her best to block out the unpleasant dark thoughts and closed her eyes so she could focus on what Shepherd Book was saying.

* * *

She looked around and felt a giddy joy well up and explode in delighted laughter. She was mouse-sized and standing on a table full of fancy dinnerware and food. Giant turkeys, massive cakes, mounds of potatoes, overflowing gravy dishes… she felt like Alice in Wonderland, shrunk down and dropped into heaven. She ran from plate to plate, pulling handfuls of food loose here and there. The turkey was juicy, the gravy perfect with a crumb of dinner roll, the cake… oh, the cake!

The chocolate rapture was interrupted by the sighting of the one thing she loved above all else and she sprinted across the giant table to climb a mountain of grapes so she could claim her prize - the biggest, juiciest strawberry she had ever seen.

She was almost half through the enormous, delicious fruit when a voice boomed out over the table. "Hell of a spread… yet nothing looks good."

With a gasp she looked around and saw a horrific man with twisted, scarred flesh and a cruel smirk. His eyes landed on her and he smiled. "Ahh, now that's what I like. A delicious morsel that screams."

She froze for just a moment as the situation became apparent, then she ran. She ran as fast as she could away from the dream Reaver and couldn't quite hold back a horrified scream as he pinched her hair between his thumb and forefinger, lifting her away from the table with gut-wrenching speed.

His laughter was deafening as he dangled her high over the table, the pain of being held up only by her hair was agonizing and she barely registered his words as he spoke again. "It's been a long time since I had a good meal and you look so berry tasty…"

She shrieked as she suddenly dropped into a huge, open mouth.


	20. Chapter 20 - Mal

He paced.

It was all he could do.

What was left? Inara was taken from him, Wash was gone, Simon was gone, Zoe was a _shell_…

Jayne was… Jayne. He walked by grumbling about kicking someone in the guizhong zhubao hard enough to make their brain explode. Book was trying to keep Kaylee from falling apart and River was talking to a section of panelling in the cargo bay. Whether this was more or less crazy than usual was still a matter of some consideration.

He walked back and forth in the small kitchen area, not willing to take the path around the table as he'd seen others do. The benefit of this was that he could pause at the coffee machine and scorch his tongue every few rounds. What was he supposed to do? However many times he thought about the situation he just didn't see any reasonable - or even unreasonable - solution. Who did you consult about something like this? Where did you go to escape?

Simon had a small amount of some drug that prevented dreaming but he had no idea which one it was and the doctor was dead. Whatever it was, it was probably also expensive. Impractical… He hated the idea of just laying down and dying but how was he supposed to fight?

The preacher seemed to think it was a demon and that was more in his domain but it didn't seem he had much hope, either. He paused, leaning against the counter and fighting back the need to punch something. _Metal walls… metal walls mean broken bones…_ They'd dealt with this enough with Jayne. He glanced up at the sound of movement.

Book stood in the doorway looking concerned and puzzled. "Have… you seen Kaylee?"

"No, why? Thought she was with you." Mal frowned.

"Well, she was… I was trying to make her feel better and I swear I only closed my eyes for a moment and when I opened them again she was gone. I must have drifted off…"

"Grab a coffee and see if River's still in the cargo bay. She'd probably have gone to talk to her." Mal said, pouring a cup and shoving it across the counter toward Book.

He nodded and accepted the cup. He was more than half through when he froze, eyes wide and staring with horror behind Mal.

With a deep breath the Captain turned to follow the gaze and saw a long, wavy curl of auburn hair draped over the edge of the trash can.


	21. Chapter 21 - Book

It felt like he was shutting down. His brain was rebelling against everything he saw. It wasn't right. It couldn't be true. Impossible.

He retreated back to his room after they found it… an involuntary shudder accompanied the memory of Mal pulling the hair out of the trash can - just the top of her head. Nothing more. Of course Mal went looking for the rest of her but Book wasn't entirely sure he'd find anything. It was _impossible_. It had to be.

His Bible sat closed on a table nearby and he looked at it longingly. He would give anything to read it, find comfort within the well worn pages, but reading did not go well with a tired brain and the words would be impossible to read. With a heavy sigh he paced the small room, not sure what to do and hating that indecision. Of all the crew he should be most able to battle a demon but those hate-filled eyes and the mocking laughter filled him with doubt.

Kaylee had even been swept away from him as he sought to offer comfort. Had he fallen asleep or was the demon strong enough to simply vanish her as she sat with him? Despair tore at his heart as the demon's laughter echoed in his mind.


	22. Chapter 22 - Jayne

The door was locked, his guns in their holsters, Vera clutched in his hands and he sat on his bunk with burning eyes and a snarl. Enough of this. He may die but he had no intention of going down unarmed. He was going to take that dream Reaver with him if it was the last thing he did.

"Takin' my guns… takin' my guns…" He chanted quietly to himself as he laid back on the bed and let himself fall into the darkness of sleep, still clutching his favorite gun tightly.

* * *

He sat up and gave a short, frustrated shout. Still in his bunk. Still exhausted. Still awake. With an irritated growl he dug out a bottle of whiskey he had stashed away. "Gorram freak ain't gettin' away that easy."

He pulled the cap off the dark brown bottle and had a mouthful before he realized something wasn't right. He spit it out and stared at the slowly spreading puddle of blood on the floor as his stomach churned.

"Ai ya!" He spat, looking at the bottle in shock. Without thinking he dropped it as he saw the twisted face of the dream Reaver molded in the glass, his face contorted in a wicked grin. The bottle bounced and rolled away but stopped with that ugly face grinning up at him.

"What's wrong? Haven't you always wanted a taste of Kaylee?" The glass face said with a suggestive smirk.

"Ain't what I meant and you know it." He spat wiping his mouth then froze. "Why am I talking to a ruttin' bottle?"

He smirked back at the face. He was asleep after all. Within seconds Vera was pointing at that smug bottle and he pulled the trigger. He loved this dream - his reattached finger was working just fine. The bottle exploded, coating the room in shattered glass and drops of blood. Jayne grinned at the remains.

"I ain't going down without a fight, you tama de hundan." He grinned. "This is **my** dream! I'm ready for you this time! I have my weapons! In here I _am_ a weapon!"

"This may be your dream but it's **my** world." The dream Reaver's mocking cackle filled the room. "But you've got a point. You _are_ a weapon…"

Pain erupted in Jayne's forearms and an agonized shriek escaped before he could stop it. He looked down to see the skin stretching and deforming into impossible but familiar lumps.


	23. Chapter 23 - Mal

_That gorram idiot…._ Mal ran when he heard the pained howl. Jayne had fallen asleep. He skidded to a stop when he reached the cargo bay, his brain frozen by an impossible scene. Zoe stood with a gun in her hand and cold, empty eyes as she watched Jayne.

The man wobbled as if having trouble keeping upright, blood stained his clothing and dripped from his upraised arm - the arm was what his mind kept tripping over. The skin was warped out of shape and it looked for all the world like the bone had been replaced by a gun - the barrel sticking out of his palm did tend to support that theory but… how?

"Jayne… put the… arm down." Mal said, well aware of the insanity of that statement.

If the man heard him there was no sign of it, he simply wavered where he stood, eyes half open and unseeing as he aimed his hand at Zoe. Silence fell again and seemed to stretch as the three stood, Mal and Zoe weighing options and Jayne dripping in the expanding puddle of blood below his arm.

Mal took a breath to speak and the two fired at each other. _How did Jayne fire a weapon with the trigger embedded in his arm?_ He held that breath as both slumped to the floor - Jayne's chest quickly turning bright red while Zoe stared with unseeing eyes, a hole between them.

He stumbled a step back, unable to look away from one of the last things he wanted to see. Zoe was gone. Jayne was gone. This was impossible… the dream Reaver had been controlling Jayne. Somehow he had to have pulled the trigger. Nothing left…

There was nothing left to fight for.


	24. Chapter 24 - Book

Gunshots? Book pulled himself to his feet and hurried to see what was going on only to stop short, barely able to believe what he was seeing was real. Zoe and Jayne lying dead, the Captain sitting on the stairs looking lost. Something was very wrong with Jayne's arm…

As he approached Mal stood, turned and began climbing the stairs.

"What are we going to do?" Book asked reluctantly, troubled by the Captain's blank look.

"Ain't nothing left. We're all infected by this thing… whatever it is. Only one thing to do. We're going to die." Mal said with all the emotion of pointing out there was a star in the sky. Book followed as he went to the cockpit and altered their course to take them away from planets, aiming them at the black at the edge of the Verse. They would be going until they ran out of fuel and drifting from there far from anyone who might rescue them.

Once he finished Mal turned, looked at Book with tired, red eyes and walked past him. "I suggest you say your prayers and either get some sleep or pick up a gun. Whatever will set your conscience at ease."

Book stood in silence, his chest felt tight and the pain became near overwhelming. The man who never gave up had surrendered. There were only three of them left and no way to fight the demon. He winced as another shot echoed through the cargo bay.

He indulged in the pain of mourning for a while then went in search of River. He couldn't bring himself to commit suicide and dreaded facing the demon again but perhaps River had found an alternative. Perhaps she had an answer. All he could do was hope, it was getting so very difficult to keep his eyes open…


	25. Chapter 25 - River

She walked around the husks and laid the last one on the end. Not people anymore.

Serenity was crying, hungry and alone. She wasn't a husk yet but it was only a matter of time. She wasn't entirely alone and River would hold her hand to the end. She made her way back to Serenity's head, slowly passing the friend shaped shells that were not friends.

It used to be Mal shot himself…

It used to be Zoe shot by Jayne…

It used to be Jayne shot by Zoe….

It used to be Book stopped by her…

The last made her heart hurt. He hadn't said it but he wanted it. Escape without pain, without blame, without fear. It still hurt.

"You can't hide forever…" An irritated voice said from behind her. "You have to sleep…"

"Am I awake?" She mused as she climbed the stairs.

"You heard me?" The ugly man appeared in front of her but she kept walking - he had no substance. He was the opposite of the husks but still not a friend. "How are you doing that?!"

She looked down at the long blades protruding from her chest. She felt nothing. They waved back and forth as he tried to hurt her but it did nothing.

"She doesn't like your tone and will not cooperate."

"What?" The agitated man demanded as he continued following her.

River ignored him and changed the coordinates.

Gas. The only way to make him stop. Lots of gas.

She turned Serenity toward a large star and sat back in the seat to watch it draw closer, one hand resting lightly on the control panel. She didn't want to be a husk but the angry man would follow her and leave everyone around her broken and empty… it was the only way.


End file.
